Time to shine a light on huge fees paid to football agents

Of all the information buried in the 126-page Uefa Club Licensing Benchmark Report FY2016 — a flair for titling reports is not among Uefa’s strengths — there is one that looked like an evident misprint.

Uefa looked at 1,045 transfers of at least a €1 million (about £880,000) between 2013 and 2016. In 32 of those cases, the commissions and fees paid to intermediaries were greater than 50 per cent. In some cases, they were greater than 100 per cent. Let that sink in.

Remember the outrage when leaked documents emerged showing that Mino Raiola had collected £41 million for his role in Paul Pogba’s transfer from Juventus to Manchester United? Well, that was less than 50 per cent of the value of the transfer.…

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